An-8 crash near Stupino

The An-8 crash near Stupino was an air crash that occurred on Tuesday, 30 March 1978 during a training flight of an An-8 aircraft (tail number 20 red) near the town of Stupino in Moscow Oblast.

Crash

The crew was performing a scheduled training flight in the area of Stupino-6 airfield (the village of Krutyshki), the purpose of which was to check the piloting technique of the aircraft commander. Having performed the first flight to the training area lasting 40 min and having landed, the crew, after taxiing, took off for a second circuit flight, which was to be flown on instruments with the cockpit glazing on the side of the commander being checked covered by a screen. Immediately after takeoff, while the flaps were being retracted at an altitude of 150 m, the aircraft lost altitude, descending to 30 m, then went back into a climb. Having climbed to an altitude of 330 m with the flight speed decreasing from 380—400 km/h to 320 km/h, the An-8 again went into a descent at an angle of 7 deg until colliding with trees and the ground. In falling, the aircraft cut a swath several hundred metres long through the forest, broke up and burned. The crash occurred in the area of the outer marker (DPRM), 4 km from the runway, less than 2 minutes after takeoff.